Branstad opens ground, air campaign offensives

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad's campaign lost no time in launching both air and ground offensives Wednesday in his quest for a record sixth term as governor of Iowa.

The Branstad-Reynolds campaign went statewide with a TV ad touting his administration's accomplishments in positive images while the Republican Governors Association issued an independently produced ad a spokesman said was intended to 'expose” Democratic opponent Jack Hatch's attempts to hide his record.

Dennis Goldford, a Drake University political science professor, said Republicans were employing a 'traditional and very good political strategy” of framing the campaign early in a light most favorable to the incumbent who has more name recognition with voters and a formidible fundraising edge.

'They're hitting him out of the gates,” Goldford said. 'In politics, if I'm running against you and you let me to define you, I'll beat you every time.

'Hatch is not a known quantity at this point. If they can go after him right out of the gate and define him in unflattering and negative ways, then he's in a hole from the beginning. As a matter of political strategy, it's traditional and very good political strategy,” he added. 'I think Jack Hatch has his work cut out for him.”

Hatch's campaign called the RGA ad a 'false and misleading attack” that provides Iowa voters 'the clearest sign yet Gov. Terry Branstad is in real trouble” in his bid to get re-elected in November.

The contrasting commercials were airing as Branstad and running mate Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds were making campaign stops at events in Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant, Burlington and Davenport to celebrate their lopsided victory in Tuesday's primary to land the GOP gubernatorial nomination. For his part, Hatch left the campaign trail to visit his elderly father in Massachusetts.

'We want to let Iowans across the state know: we're just getting started,” said Branstad, building on his 'comeback” theme that Iowa has seen continued job growth, business investment, higher incomes, better schools and lower taxes during his fifth term that began in January 2011.

While Branstad scored a resounding win Tuesday night over GOP primary challenger Tom Hoefling of Lohrville with 83 percent of the votes, the fact that 26,284 Iowa Republicans didn't vote for the five-term incumbent may pose a concern heading into the fall campaign season, observers said.

'It shows he's going to need to do some work with his base to shore that up,” said Des Moines attorney Doug Gross, the 2002 GOP gubernatorial nominee and a close Branstad ally who participated in a talk-radio panel discussion Wednesday on the primary results. 'I think he'll do that very quickly.”

Goldford said he expected GOP voters 'will come home” when choosing in November between a veteran conservative Republican and a liberal Democratic state senator making his first statewide bid, but he noted recent polling data points to a growing sentiment that Branstad's 20 years at Terrace Hill may be long enough and GOP campaign rhetoric consistently talks about 'career politicians in disparaging ways.”

The RGA ad, which shows images of Hatch peering through window blinds and bulldozers smashing homes, raises questions about Hatch's support of eminent domain as a real estate developer and his failure to date to respond to GOP demands that he release past tax returns beyond his 2013 filings. Hatch's campaign issued a statement refuting each of the claims made in the RGA commercial.

'The decision to air this kind of false attack on day one of the fall campaign really tells us a lot about the position Gov. Branstad is in with Iowa voters – not a good one at all,” said Grant Woodard, Hatch's campaign manager. 'Iowans want answers, not false attacks.

'We've been saying for months Gov. Branstad's mismanagement has made this a close, competitive race in which Jack Hatch has a real chance to win, and there's no better evidence than the RGA coming to Gov. Branstad's rescue this early,” Woodard added in a statement.